How to use small telescopes for wide-angle stargazing
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Loading... - Beauty Adusei
- 09 Sep 2022
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Years ago, I heard reports of amateur astronomers glimpsing a huge emission nebula in our galaxy, cataloged as IC 1396. Deep astroimages showed an expansive, complex nebula in Cepheus, about 3° in diameter on the northern side of the brightest visual band of the Milky Way, above Cygnus. Being a huge fanboy of all things that shine with the dim glow of ionized hydrogen and oxygen ions, I had to see it!
Based on years of success observing faint, challenging galaxies, I confidently aimed my telescope towards Cepheus, eagerly anticipating visions of a grand nebulosity. But the best I could manage was the faint impression that something was there. I was sorely disappointed. Frustrated, I dismissed other observers’ written reports as wishful thinking.
As it turned out, the fault was my own. I was using the wrong eyepieces and my telescope was too big for the challenge.
It wasn’t until the fall of 2020 that I routinely started using small, short-focal-length telescopes with some massive, 2" wide-angle eyepieces. Upon my first try with a particularly wide-angle combination, I achieved my first direct view of IC 1396: a big, round, splotchy glow in the sky.
So how was IC 1396 hidden in plain sight? My error was observing with a scope that had too much focal length and eyepieces with too-narrow apparent fields of view (AFOV). The telescopes and eyepieces I initially employed showed me only a portion of the nebula, rendering it unrecognizable. Essentially, I was trying to discern the subject of a painting using a microscope. Read More...
